In bars and public places where drinks are supplied the ice cubes remain in their moulds inside a conventional refrigerator, from which they are transferred to an ice bucket consisting of a containing receptacle, which is at best thermally insulated. Anybody needing to use the ice cubes takes them from the receptacle in question, into which new ice cubes from the refrigerator have to be placed from time to time.
This system of conservation and use of ice cubes presents several drawbacks:
Ice cubes which remain too long in the receptacle melt. PA1 It is a nuisance to have to continually fill the receptacle with new ice cubes from the refrigerator to avoid them remaining too long in the receptacle and therefore melting. PA1 The ice cubes contained in the receptacle stick to each other easily, which makes them difficult to be used one by one.